Oglesby, Bennett & More Cast In Guthrie's CAROLINE OR CHANGE, Previews 4/18

The Guthrie today announced the complete cast and creative team for Caroline, or Change, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner's deeply personal story, featuring music by three-time Tony Award-nominated composer Jeanine Tesori (Shrek The Musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie).

As previously announced, Guthrie director/choreographer Marcela Lorca leads a cast of Broadway veterans and Twin Cities theater mainstays, featuring Greta Oglesby as Caroline Thibodeaux. The first of three productions presented as part of the Guthrie's Kushner Celebration, the acclaimed musical about race, civil rights and coming of age in the South begins previews April 18, opens April 24 and continues through June 21 on the Wurtele Thrust Stage.

Single tickets are priced from $29 to $65, with a limited number of premium tickets available for opening night. Tickets are now on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at www.CelebrateKushner.com.

Drawn from Kushner's own childhood, this award-winning musical, set against the backdrop of Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1963, centers on the relationship between Caroline, a divorced, middle-aged African American maid, and Noah Gellman (played in alternating performances by Fargo, N.D., resident Noah Coon and Rosemount native Ryan McDowell Poehler), the son of the Jewish family for whom she works. As Caroline comes to terms with racial turmoil and the end of segregation, and Noah deals with the death of his mother and his father's remarriage, the pair struggle to find a place for their friendship.

Caroline spends her days working in the solitude of a hot basement, where she shares her thoughts, sorrows and deep hopes with the appliances - The Washing Machine (R&B recording artist Jamecia Bennett), The Dryer (powerhouse baritone and Twin Cities jazz scene mainstay T. Mychael Rambo) and The Radio (The Supremes-like group of Felicia Boswell, Lynnea Doublette and AureLia Williams) - as well as The Moon (Twin Cities musical theater regular Aimee K. Bryant), inanimate objects which come to life and give voice to Caroline's inner turmoil.

With the nation reeling from the burgeoning civil rights movement, the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the war in Vietnam, the tide of change begins to affect Caroline's life, as the beautiful music portrays her personal struggle to move forward. Having already embraced the changing society, her friend Dotty Moffett (local jazz vocalist and Twin Cities theater regular Regina Marie Williams) pushes Caroline to use her inner strength to do the same.

As Chanukah approaches in the Gellman household, Noah's stepmother Rose (Julie Reiber, standby for Elphaba in the Broadway and Los Angeles casts of Wicked) enlists Caroline's help in a plan to teach Noah a lesson about leaving change in his pants pocket, telling her to take the change she finds in his pockets at laundry time. When Noah leaves a twenty-dollar bill in his pocket, Caroline is faced with the decision between maintaining her friendship with the boy and using the money to help her own children, Emmie (Nikki Renee Daniels from Broadway's Les Miserable, Aida), Jackie (in alternating performances by Versell Ford IV and Jackson M. Hurst) and Joe (in alternating performances by Julius Andrews IV and Zadir King).

A virtuosic score blends blues, gospel, klezmer and traditional Jewish melodies to create a breathtaking medium for Kushner's provocative and personal story, which will also feature Chanhassen Dinner Theatres regular Michelle Barber as Grandma Gellman, the multi-talented Ivey Award-winning actor/singer Bradley Greenwald as Stuart Gellman, Guthrie regular Peter Thomson as Grandpa Gellman and Broadway veteran Kenny Morris (Hairspray, Les Miserables, Jacques Brel...) as Mr. Stopnick, Rose's father.

First workshopped at New York's Public Theater in May 1999, Caroline, or Change opened there Off-Broadway in 2003. The successful Broadway transfer in May 2004 was rewarded with critical acclaim and several Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, followed by a subsequent London production at The National Theatre which received the Olivier Award for Best Musical. This production marks the first time a full-length play by Kushner will be produced on the Guthrie stage.

In addition to director/choreographer Marcela Lorca, the artistic staff for Caroline, or Change includes Andrew Cooke (Musical Director/Conductor), Richard Hoover (Set Designer), Candice Donnelly (Costume Designer), Mary Louise Geiger (Lighting Designer), Scott W. Edwards (Sound Designer), Jo Holcomb (Dramaturgy), Lucinda Holshue (Voice and Dialect Coach), Russell W. Johnson (Production Stage Manager), Jason Clusman (Assistant Stage Manager), Elizabeth R. MacNally (Assistant Stage Manager) and Marcus Quiniones (Assistant Director/Assistant Choreographer).

About the Guthrie
The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Guthrie is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. Led by Director Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie opened its new three-theater home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in June 2006.

The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue), in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets or season subscriptions call the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224 or toll-free 877.44.STAGE. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.guthrietheater.org.

The Kushner Celebration is made possible through the generosity of David and Shari Boehnen, The Bush Foundation, The Curtis L. Carlson Family Foundation, John & Sage Cowles, David & Vicky Cox, Fran & Barb Davis, Susan Engel & Arthur Eisenberg, William and Penny George and The George Family Foundation, Polly Grose, Kathy and Allen Lenzmeier, Mendon F. Schutt Family Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, Wendy Nelson, Louise Otten, the Ruth Easton Fund, The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Frances and Frank Wilkinson, and David A. Wilson and Michael J. Peterman.

The Guthrie's production of Caroline, or Change is sponsored by Ameriprise Financial,
with additional support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and SUPERVALU.

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
BOOK AND LYRICS BY Tony Kushner
MUSIC BY Jeanine Tesori
DIRECTED BY Marcela Lorca

First preview: April 18, 2009 7:30 p.m.

Opening Night: April 24, 2009 7:30 p.m.

Closing: June 21, 2009 7 p.m.

Location: Guthrie Theater 818 South 2nd Street
Minneapolis, MN 55415

TICKETS: Single tickets priced at $24 - $60, opening night $49 - $70
A limited number of premium tickets available for opening night Tickets may be purchased online at www.guthrietheater.org. Guthrie Box Office: 612.377.2224 or 877.44.STAGE Box Office hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (performance days) 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (non-performance days) Group Sales: 612.225.6244 or 877.225.6211

 

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